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SALES PITCH
‘You may have the best relationship with your customer but
you’re not going to close deals if someone comes along at the
last minute and says they can do it faster, better, cheaper
suggest salespeople spend the bulk of their time worrying about “But while they may know who the salesperson is and they may
competitors,” he says. “Understanding your customers’ require- know a little bit about them, they will not generally know how long
ments and issues and understanding your own products is obvi- the person has been selling, how they did last year, what they
ously paramount. It’s also important to spend time honing the skills depend on to win, why they lose, what they do when they’re win-
required to be a good salesperson. But spending no time on the ning, what they do when they’re losing, when they call in their
individuals you’re selling against is not the answer either. It’s a bit of manager, their knowledge of the industry and the number of com-
a habit that has to be developed whenever there’s an opportunity.” panies they’ve worked for in the past 10 years,” he points out.
He also believes the marketing department has a role to play in “That can all be very valuable information when you’re competing
collecting and disseminating information about competitors. “The against somebody.”
marketing department can empower sales reps to gather this infor-
mation by putting together some type of technology support plat-
Top secret
form,” he explains. “It’s important that salespeople — and others in
While collecting information about competitors is becoming
the company — can easily enter any information they learn about
increasingly important, Stein says it is equally important for sales
competitors into a database. Marketing can help create an envi-
operations to prevent other organisations from getting data about
ronment where it’s understood that this information is important
their salespeople. “It is difficult, but there are ways of protecting
and should be collected. Most importantly, marketing must provide
your privacy,” he says. “One simple way is to always remind sales-
very simple tools and procedures to capture this information and
people never to talk about business in front of others. Be very care-
distribute it to the rest of the sales team.”
ful with regard to customer lists going out. Vary your email address
Stein says it’s obviously more of a burden for smaller companies
patterns; for example, you could have a mix of johnsmith@compa-
to gather this kind of intelligence and analyse and use it in an effec-
ny.com,
mary.smith@company.com and
t.smith@company.com
tive way. “If you have a team of marketing or sales support people
rather than one standard format. This way, it is more difficult for
who are part of this collection and analysis, it’s much easier. Large
people to contact salespeople opportunistically.
companies tend to be able to do this much more readily.” He points
“Presentations have to be marked company confidential,” he
out that certain organisations are also more skilled at using the
continues. “If it’s known that the organisation has a very strict pol-
intelligence than others. “Collecting information like this makes it
icy and that they will take it to legal levels as required to protect
easier to identify where competitor salespeople are making false
their privacy, then salespeople will be less willing to share informa-
claims about their product or service,” he says. “Where this is the
tion and talk about what’s proprietary. It’s incumbent upon all of
case, some marketing departments will provide strategies for rais-
the relevant managers to ensure they protect the privacy of
ing this issue in a professional way with customers and prospects.
their people, just as they would protect their computer system
There are companies that do a terrific job at this and that is one of
with a firewall.”
the reasons they’re market leaders.”
While there are many people who are good at competitive sell-
While there is considerable interest among CEOs and sales
ing, Stein says there are considerably more who don’t look at this
directors in developing and using competitive intelligence, Stein
area at all. “They think they’ve built a great relationship with their
says the majority of organisations have not adopted rigorous
customer and basically leave themselves exposed,” he says. “You
processes for collecting, analysing and distributing this data.
can compare it to being in a room and leaving the door open, as
“When I go into a roomful of salespeople and ask them if they
opposed to closed and locked. You may have the best relationship
know the name of the salesperson against whom they’re compet-
with your customer but you’re not going to close deals if someone
ing in their most important deal, maybe 20pc of the people raise
comes along at the last minute and says they can do it faster, bet-
their hands,” he says. “So there’s a lot of work to be done. In
ter, cheaper. You have to protect yourself; if you don’t, you’re leav-
Ireland, salespeople have an advantage because there is a fixed
ing yourself open to your competitors swooping in and figurat-
number of people they’re going to be competing against.
ively taking the commission cheque out of your pocket.”
54 Marketing Age May/June ‘08
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